


Soulmarks

by CleverCorgi



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Did I Mention Angst?, M/M, also angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 02:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4083721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleverCorgi/pseuds/CleverCorgi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmarks. Dumbest and most useless thing ever. Materialized shortly after birth, foretold the last statement you'd ever hear from your soulmate before their death. Worst crock of shit in Aster's opinion, that; you never found out who was ‘the one’, as the humans liked to call it, until you’d never see them again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw [this post](http://fuzzykitty01.tumblr.com/post/120796699616/sincereglomp-aceofultron-soulmate-au-where) and had instant inspiration. At work. On lunch. On my phone.
> 
> Initially written in a 40 minutes rush, then edited after I got home. Beta'd by Kayasurin, as usual. FrostOverlord took a peek too.
> 
> Enjoy!

_"Now it’s your turn. One... That’s it, that’s it...two... three!"_

  
  


Soulmarks. Dumbest and most useless thing ever. Materialized shortly after birth, foretold the last statement you'd ever hear from your soulmate before their death. Worst crock of shit in Aster's opinion, that; you never found out who was ‘the one’, as the humans liked to call it, until you’d never see them again.

And yet, legends spoke of the ‘tingling sensation’ that presaged this fateful meeting, and, according to those very same legends, would grant the vigilant one chance to save their soulmate from death.

After untold years of waiting, his soulmark had finally, _finally_ reacted.

Aster scratched at the lines tattooed in flowing Pookan script on the inside of his wrist; they were tingling intensely. Irritatingly. Which meant that he, like the idiot he was, tripped over a root hidden beneath a small snowbank at the foot of a tree. Because he’d decided to scratch while running on all fours.

The tingling had begun during his Easter run when he'd passed through the northeastern - what were they called now... ah, right - "United States". Surprised, he'd finished his run on the spot, trusting in the googies to see themselves to their hiding places, and shot off to find his soulmate before it was too late.

Arriving at a small hamlet in western... Penn-something - "Penn's Woods", wasn't it? Odd name for a whole region that wasn't even entirely forested, if you asked him - he knew instantly that _this_ was the place; the tingling having settled into a constant irritation. Bloody fucking wonderful.

At least he was _here_.

He took a moment to reorient himself, partly catching his breath in the process. It had been the most terrifying and exhausting game of hot and cold he'd ever experienced, with the sensation increasing and decreasing in intensity as he ran, changing directions like a madman in pursuit of his goal.

The hamlet was pretty quiet, all-told, the few dozen citizens making their way home after Easter service in twos and threes. He started to circle around the outer boundary of the hamlet, ears and eyes ever-watchful, scanning for any sign of the phrase on his wrist.

"Thomas, keep up, your mother is-"

"John! I need your advice-"

_No, no. Not even remotely-_

"Mary, hello! I didn't get a chance to-"

_Shut it, you wankers, I’m trying to find-_

"- play Hopscotch! Like we play every day!"

_Playing has nothing to do with it!_

As he rounded the western side of the tiny town, he noted, absently in his focused rush, two children playing on a frozen pond off in the distance.

The sound of ice creaking, warning that it was close to buckling, set him on high alert as he swiveled to stare at the two children. And then-

_"Now it’s your turn. One..."_

Aster's hearts skipped a beat, and he broke into a run - the boy! The boy was his-

_"That’s it, that’s it... two..."_

He had enough time to register that the little girl was standing on thin ice and her - presumably - brother was trying to rescue her, before-

_"Three!"_

The boy used his staff to pull the girl away from the cracking ice, but at the cost of switching places with her.

Aster arrived at the edge of the pond just as the sister screamed - "Jack!" - and the boy went under, the ice failing almost immediately beneath his greater weight.

The cracks skittered across the ice, heading directly for the little girl, and in that instant, he had to make a choice, for there was only time enough to save one.

His hearts crying out in anguish, he dove for the girl, ensuring his soulmate's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he said as he pulled the girl to safety, trying his best to ignore her anguished cries, as much as they echoed his own internal screaming.

It was only several hours later, after he'd returned the distraught girl to her mother - not that the lady could see him - and made it back to his Warren, that it finally hit him that he'd had the chance to save his soulmate, and missed it.

Given the same situation, he knew he'd make that decision again, but….

_But._

He cried himself to sleep that night, and many nights thereafter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that you say, you want _more?_
> 
>  
> 
> ... maybe.


	2. Chapter 2

_"That’s it, that’s it... two… three!"_

_Jack pulls hard on his staff and propels his sister away from the cracking ice, but at the cost of switching places with her. He looks over at his sister, and has enough time to smile, before the ice cracks, and he plunges into the water._

_In the split second his head is still above water, he sees a blueish-grey blur snatch his sister away from the cracking ice and take her to safety on the bank._

“ _Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”_

  
  


Jack reeled back from the memory, shivering despite himself at the remnant sensations of floating beneath the cold, icy water, and _changing_. His eyes took a moment to come into focus, and the first thing he saw was Baby Tooth, gazing up at him patiently.

“Did you… did you see that?” he asked breathlessly.

She favored him with a look that screamed ‘of course not’, and shook her head.

“It… it was me! I had a family! I had a sister!” he exclaimed, pausing as abruptly as he’d begun, his mind still trying to process everything he’d witnessed. He added a moment later, tone equal parts awed, and excited, “I saved her!”

Jack instinctively glanced up, and the Moon obligingly peeked out from behind the clouds.

“That’s why you chose me,” he whispered. “I’m… I’m a _Guardian_.”

“ _Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”_

Jack started when that line came back to him, spoken in a now all-too-familiar voice. He scrabbled at his right sleeve, yanking it up to his elbow and looked down at the dark, flowing script that graced his forearm.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he read aloud in wonder, tracing the letters with his finger as he did so. A grin stretched across his face from ear to ear.

Baby Tooth chirped at him questioningly, and flit up to touch his soulmark questioningly.

“This is my soulmark, Baby Tooth. It’s the last words I’ll hear from my soulmate before I die.”

She chirped at him questioningly again, but he waved her off.

“Not now. We can talk about it later.” He stood, and looked to where the pieces of his staff were lying. “We have to get out of here.”

Taking the halves of his broken staff in hand, he pushed the snapped ends together, and concentrated. Nothing, but he kept trying, focusing and praying and pushing all of his remaining magic into his hands, and into the wood. A spark of blue light shot forth after a moment, and began mending the staff whole.

Jack smiled.

_Don’t worry, Cottontail. I’ll be there soon._

 


End file.
